Panic and Aversion
by Kennie Barton
Summary: An ominous mission with vibrant tones of excessive personal danger. Percy and Jason were just hanging out when they received the phone call. Now the two lead the attempt to reach camp before capture from a threat only they seem to know about. References to several shows, movies and books. I own only the plot of this story, characters and themes based on the works of Rick Riordan.
1. The Game is On

"Bored," Percy sighed, laying back across the arm of the reclining chair. He was so bored he could hardly focus on anything. Five hours, he had been awake for five hours and nothing was happening.  
"Bored," came the tired response of his newest friend, who was stretched out on the couch. Listless eyes staring blankly at the television, "so bored."  
Percy rolled his head around so he could look at Jason. They should go do something, but what? What was there really left to do? Fight monsters; they had done that. Save the world; done that multiple times. Watch television; it was amazing how quickly that becomes unappealing. What else was there for two highly trained demigods to do?  
"Bored," Percy sighed again, his eyes returning to the ceiling as his head fell back on the arm. "So bored," he fought not to yawn. He was bored, not tired.  
"So bored," Jason agreed with a heavy sigh.  
The telephone rang on the table between them. "Mom," they yelled, "Phone!" Neither made a move to answer.  
"Percy, can you get that," his mother yelled from the kitchen. "I'm in the middle of something."  
Percy leaned forward to reach the phone, stretching to wrap his fingers around the cordless on the coffee table. He fell back in the recliner, accepting the call, and listened to the voice on the other end. He sat silently, his eyes glazed over from the boredom only half listening to the drone of a telemarketer. A minute later, when Percy still had not responded, the woman calling hung up.  
Percy dropped the cordless on the floor, sitting up and spinning around the chair to firmly plant his feet on the floor. Lacing his fingers together, he prepared his story. "That was headquarters," he started. "They want me to go to Camp at once, and meet up with a trainer named Chiron. He'll have all the details. All I have to do is get there."  
Jason did not respond immediately. His mind processing what Percy had said to him, determining what was happening based on those words. Suddenly he jumped up off the couch, "Gods," he cried out, turning wide excited eyes to Percy. "I think I see the pattern. Sounds like trouble."  
Percy nodded, "It always is."  
"You're going to need plenty of advice on this one." Jason came to his feet, pacing around the coffee table. "First bit, we're going to need backup. I suggest that blond with the storm in her eyes."  
Percy turned to face him, "What for?"  
"She's good, we'll need her for the permanent record," Jason responded. "Then we'll have to get out of Manhattan for a few days, clear the air. Blows my whole week," Percy raised his brow in question. "Naturally I'll have to go with you, we'll have to be armed, to the teeth."  
"Why not?" Percy came to his feet, leading the charge from the apartment. "If a thing as righteous as this is worth doing, it's worth doing right." He wrapped his hand around the knob, ready to throw open the door.  
"Percy," his mother appeared in the kitchen door, wiping her hands dry with a towel. "Where are you going?" Percy did not pause, Jason hot on his heels, they never broke pace.  
"Call Dr. Chase, have him call Annabeth. Tell him to tell her," Percy shouted over his shoulder exiting the apartment, passing his step-father in the hall.  
"Tell who what," Paul asked, turning to watch the boys boarding the elevator. "Sally, what are they doing?"  
"Come at once if convenient. If inconvenient, come anyway. And don't blink!"  
"The game is on!" Jason shouted in continuation as the doors to the elevator closed behind them.  
"Ground floor," Percy commanded. "We'll have to gather the supplies."  
"Can we find them in Manhattan?"  
"That's the problem with you Romans," Percy scoffed, watching the floors pass on the digital screen in the elevator. "No faith in the Greek hero's culture."  
In the lobby they crossed paths with a child of Nike. The boy looked at them curiously, most likely surprised that out of all the apartment buildings in Manhattan he happened to live in the same one as Percy Jackson and/or Jason Grace. Percy saw the boy and grabbed him in a head lock, dragging him to a janitor's closet.  
"I feel like you need the facts." Percy whispered quickly, still holding the boy in the head lock. "The man at my side is a friend, not some stranger I picked up in the elevator. He's a foreigner, Roman I think, but this man is very important to me."  
The boy looked at Jason, then tried to look back at Percy. "I know," he gasped. He had been at camp with both of them over the summer.  
"We're your friends," Jason smiled leaning in. "We're not like the others."  
"Others?" the boy asked, confused. "What others?"  
"I said you need the facts," Percy shouted, shooting a very displeased look at his advisor. "We're on a very ominous mission, filled with vibrant tones of excessive personal danger."  
"It always is," the boy gasped. "We're demigods. It's in our job descriptions."  
Percy glared down at the boy, perhaps this boy was not a friend. Perhaps he was a spy, part of the excessive dangers. The boy could not be trusted, and he already knew too much.  
"The game is on," Percy shouted suddenly, dropping the son of Nike and throwing the door open, pulling Jason out behind him.  
"We couldn't trust him," Percy explained rushing across the lobby and out onto the street. "He would report this to some kind of outback Olympian law enforcement agency. Our quest must be kept on the down low. If too many people know it will jeopardize the integrity of our situation."  
"We haven't got the quest yet," Percy turned a suspicious eye on Jason.  
"Getting the quest might be the most defining moment of the year," Percy commented. "The game has started, and we are without backup."  
"They called our back up," Jason spoke seriously, his brow furrowing as part of the expression. "The message was clear."  
"Maybe too clear," Percy narrowed his eyes, stroking his chin like a cliché villain from the classic movies. "She might take it for a warning, that we've been taken. She might go on without us."  
"Outback Olympic law enforcement," Jason confirmed Percy's suspicions, pointing out a pair of teenagers standing on the other side of the street.  
They wore orange shirts, backpacks slung over their shoulders and each had a sword belted at their waists. Between the orange shirted teenagers stood the boys backup Annabeth. She had a backpack on her shoulder, like she was with them. But the boys knew better, she was in need of backup.  
"The game is on!"


	2. Weeping Statues

There are things a demigod can come to terms with. Like a six story tall drakon slithering down the streets of Mahattan, giant half spider women, and the fact that Tartarus is a being more than a place. But a demigod should never have to cope with their backup being captured by outback Olympic law enforcement agents.  
"So what do we do?"  
"Do?" Percy turned to Jason, looking away from Annabeth.  
"Do," Jason nodded. "Go to Camp or save Annabeth?"  
"Is that a question," Percy pulled back, repulsed at the thought. "We're nothing without backup. We need her for the permanent record," Percy waved his arm around, motioning to Annabeth.  
"We need back up," Jason decided, watching as Annabeth was led down the street, away from Percy's apartment building. "We don't have the strength to take them, they're children of Mars."  
"Shut up, I'm trying to think," Percy closed his eyes, trying to think of a plan.  
Jason was right. They needed backup to save their backup. Additional backup for a mission filled with vibrant tones of excessive personal danger. But who else could they call? Anyone of them could be spies, working for the Olympians, trying to stop them.  
Percy opened his eyes, giving the Roman an accusing glance. He could be part of the problem! He was Roman. But he was a friend; he had told the deranged child of Nike in the lobby that he trusted Jason. Jason was not the issue, the spies with his backup were the problem.  
"We need Daedalus," Percy decided moving parallel to Annabeth down the street, pulling Jason along behind him once again.  
"He died like a million years ago."  
"Actually more like, two," Percy responded, diving behind a hotdog cart. "He gave Annabeth her laptop."  
"The one she lost in Rome?"  
"Yea, that one," Percy peered over the top of the cart, pushing the vendor aside so he could see what was happening on the other side of the street. "He would know what to do."  
"We have to do something, they have her," Jason hissed as they started farther down the street.  
"Shut up, you're lowering the intelligence of the entire street," Percy snapped. "We need Daedalus," Percy repeated, passing behind a replica of Michelangelo's David.  
"And I need Hercules, but that's not happening either."  
"Starbucks?" Percy stopped turning to look at Jason. "What do you need him for?"  
"It's an expression," Jason snipped heatedly. "You're asking for something we're never going to get."  
"I can get Daedalus," Percy responded. "Romans, no respect of the Greek hero's culture," Percy shook his head.  
"Fine, how do we get the backup?"  
"Plan twenty-three," Percy flashed a mischievous smile at Jason, then looked up at the replica. "David will be our backup."  
"David is a statue," Jason criticized following Percy back over to the ten-foot tall marble statue.  
"An Automaton," Percy corrected, looking around the street to see if anyone was watching them. "And I can make him help us," he smiled climbing up on the base of the statue.  
Percy stood on the base looking at the marble man, looking for the tiny mark of Daedalus that would activate the Automaton. For a minute he thought he would have to climb further up on the statue to find the mark. As he was looking for a good handhold to pull himself up he found it. The tiny delta was on the inside of David's right hand.  
"Daedalus Twenty-three. Provide backup," Percy leapt off the statue base as the marble David awakened. "Come on, let's go."  
The mortals cleared the path for the huge Automaton as Percy and Jason led the search to relocate Annabeth and the outback Olympian law enforcement agents. The marble David trailed behind, ripping large branches from nearby trees to use as clubs. Finally they saw her entering a bus station.  
"Attack," Percy screamed, pulling Riptide from his pocket and charging at the bus station. Jason gave a wordless cry following after Percy, the marble Automaton followed after them with his tree clubs waving over their heads.  
Inside the bus station was mostly empty, Annabeth and the orange-clad teenagers were at the ticket counter when David collapsed part of the wall so he could enter the building. Percy and Jason leapt over the rubble, their swards raised ready for an attack. David stood between them, his tree clubs held aloft.  
"Percy? Jason?" Annabeth turned from the counter, looking at them with a furrowed brow. "What are you doing?"  
"The game is on," Percy shouted his battle cry as he ran forward, aiming for the daughter of Ares on Annabeth's right. Jason gave another wordless cry charging at the teenager on Annabeth's left. David followed after Jason, deciding the hero lacking a war cry was in need of assistance before the true fight had begun.  
The child of Ares assaulted by Jason and the Automaton drew his sword, looking with calculating eyes at the situation. He decided that Jason was the real threat, the sword was more hazardous than the tree branches, and Jason was smaller making him more mobile. The son of Ares charged forward, blocking Jason's attack and ducking under a mighty swung from the marble David.  
"What are you doing," the son of Ares asked, spinning around to face the dual threat once again. He was distracted for a moment, slipped on the freshly waxed floor and fell to his knees. Jason leapt on the boy, pinning him to the ground.  
Meanwhile Percy was facing off against a daughter of Ares. They matched blow for blow, locked their swords at the hilt and glared at one another.  
"Jackson," the daughter of Ares growled. "Stop it, we're on a quest."  
"So are we," Percy released his weapon, allowing it to fall to the floor while he spun out of range. As he spun out, Percy dropped to a roll, collecting his sword as he did so and came to stand next to Annabeth.  
"The game is on," he told her before lunging forward to disarm the daughter of Ares.  
Annabeth rolled her eyes watching her idiotic boyfriend attack a fellow camper. "What are you talking about?"  
"The game, Annabeth, is on," Percy shouted, kicking the lost weapon away from his opponent. "We have to gather the supplies. They're waiting," he ran across the room, grabbing his girlfriend by the waist and hauling her form the bus station. With Jason and the marble David close behind him.  
"Supplies for what?" Annabeth shouted.  
"The game," the boys replied together.  
"The game is over," she seethed, trying to wriggle out of Percy's grasp. "Put me down Seaweed Brain!"  
"The game is never over," Percy laughed, leading Jason and the marble David through the streets of Manhattan.


	3. Sinister Forces

They made it out of the city with minor difficulties. Percy attributed the troubles to the vibrant tones of excessive personal danger. Jason gave credit to the outback Olympic law enforcement agencies. Annabeth knew it was because of the marble David Automaton following them through the streets providing backup. But the boys refused to listen to reason, rambling about the ominous missions and excessive dangers from the outback Olympic law enforcement agencies.  
Percy also carried Annabeth, thrown over his shoulder, the whole way. And they ran on foot, because the taxis were too small for the marble David and anything big enough to support the Automaton were filled with sketchy characters Percy and Jason both claimed could not be trusted. How Percy managed to keep pace with Jason and carry Annabeth, she could never begin to imagine but she felt it had to do with mysterious mission they kept talking about.  
In the open country surrounding New York City Percy unceremoniously dropped Annabeth to the ground, taking her backpack from her and dumping the contents on the ground. "Just as I thought," he muttered darkly sifting through her belongings. "Time to suit up."  
"Suit up?" Jason asked as a shirt was thrown at his head. He held the orange Camp Half-Blood shirt up.  
"The last suit we'll ever wear," Percy was ripping his own shirt off over his head. "You too," he threw one of the extra orange tee-shirts at Annabeth.  
"I'm already wearing one," she threw the shirt back at Percy, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "Now tell me what you're doing, or so help me, I'll kill both of you right now."  
"I received a call for headquarters," Percy began.  
"Camp?" She arched her brow at him.  
"They told me to report in. A trainer named Chiron would seek me out with the details."  
"Then call Blackjack or Mrs. O'Leary and go to camp."  
"Too easy, they'd expect it," Jason grunted pulling Annabeth's shirt over his head.  
"If they called you to camp," she started heatedly.  
"She's right," Percy leapt to his feet, slapping his hand over Annabeth's mouth. "They called us in so they could catch us. It's a classic gambit."  
"I see the patterns," Jason whispered harshly jumping up to his feet beside Percy. "Gods, this is more serious than we thought! The marble David isn't going to be enough," he turned wide eyes up at the Automaton, who was waiting for their next move.  
"You're both being ridiculous," Annabeth ripped Percy's hand away from her face. "You activated an Automaton we don't know how to disengage, and you're acting paranoid over nothing!"  
"Is it nothing? Or are there more sinister forces at play here?" Percy arched his brow at her, his eyes playing a dangerous game. Annabeth sighed rolling her eyes and crossed her arms.  
"It's nothing Seaweed Brain. Nothing sinister is happening."  
"They've gotten her," Jason shook his head. "Wiped her mind, that's why she never showed."  
"I didn't know I was supposed to be coming," Annabeth shouted.  
"We sent word."  
"When?"  
Percy and Jason both looked at their wrists, neither had a watch, and they looked at the wrong wrist. "Two hours ago?" Jason nodded looking at Percy.  
"Two hours," they said together looking back at Annabeth.  
"When you abducted me?" Annabeth asked incredulously looking between her idiotic boyfriend and his Roman counterpart.  
"Liberated," Percy corrected, hauling Annabeth up to her feet. "Now come on, or we'll miss our mission."  
"You don't have a mission," Annabeth screamed as she was drug away by Percy. "And what are you doing with the Automaton? He can't come with us."  
Jason looked up at the Automaton, "He's our friend. We can't just leave him."  
"He'll attract too much attention," Annabeth snapped. "Whoever you think is after you will notice him before we get to Camp."  
"Gods, she's right!"  
"Their ploy almost worked," Percy agreed, looking up at the marble David. "It's a good thing we called for backup."  
"You never called me!" At that moment Annabeth's cellular phone rang. She looked down at her pocket while the ringtone blared. The marble David took the noise as an attack and prepared for battle. Rolling her eyes Annabeth dug in her pocket for the phone. Percy snatched it from her hand and answered it.  
He held the phone beside his ear, listening to Dr. Chase ask if he could be heard. It took a few minutes for Dr. Chase to finally abandon the attempt and hang up. Percy nodded as if he heard something important, and when the call was finished he ripped the battery from the phone.  
"Percy!" Annabeth shrieked as he dropped the battery in his pocket. "That was my dad!"  
"Headquarters again," Percy turned to Jason, tossing the Roman demigod Annabeth's phone. "The plans have changed. The Olympians are on to us. Trying to stop us before we can get to the contact."  
"That was my dad!"  
"Did you answer the phone?" Percy asked turning on Annabeth. "No? I did, didn't I?" he turned back to Jason. "We'll have to send David back to the City. Our backup backup will have to be replaced."  
"Bad vibrations," Jason commented stroking his chin. "Too many people will leave a highly noticeable trail."  
"Bad vibrations or no, we'll have to use a red heron."  
"White rabbit?" Jason suggested as the boys started walking.  
"Red, white, so long as they lose the trail," Percy spoke with mock seriousness.  
"Are you two forgetting something?" Percy and Jason stopped, turning to look over their shoulders at Annabeth. "The Automaton is still following you. And we don't know how to disengage them."  
"Marble David!" the Automaton came to attention, his heels together and his clubs at the ready, "Return to post and await further need of back up!"  
The Automaton dropped his clubs, saluted Percy, then turned and started back toward New York. Smiling Percy turned away and started walking. They had to get to camp and their contact before the Outback Olympians found them. The sinister forces were closing in on them.  
"We should call the team," Jason suggested.  
"What team?" Annabeth shouted cramming her belongings back in her backpack and running after the boys.  
"We're going to need the HIO," Percy's eyes narrowed, "The Heroes in Orange."  
Annabeth sighed. She would have to go with them. Otherwise they might kill themselves.


	4. Ravishing Insanity

Alarms rang around them, lights flashed through the afternoon sky. In the distance a single dog barked at the trio of trespassers. The little rat-dog tried in vain to attack the orange-clad teenagers walking on the wall.  
"She would have let us in if we'd called her," Annabeth commented sourly following after Jason and Percy. "But we can't, since you took my phone!"  
"Bad vibrations," Percy looked down at the dog. "We have to appear and vanish without a whisper." He whispered the last part, holding his finger before his lips to tell Annabeth to stay quiet.  
"The dog is barking," she shouted loudly. "They know someone is coming."  
"And they can see you," Rachel Elizabeth Dare stood in the yard looking up at the three demigods. She was wearing her favorite pair of ratty paint covered jeans and a too-large tee-shirt, her hair was mostly pulled back and held in place with a pair of paint brushes. "Care to explain what's going on?"  
"These idiots have abducted me," Annabeth answered before the boys could decide on what to say. "And are dragging me on some half-baked scheme—" she held her out as Percy and Jason interrupted her.  
"Ominous mission filled with over tones of excessive personal dangers," they shouted together, leaping off the wall to stand on either side of Rachel.  
"Sounds serious," only Annabeth picked up on the sarcasm in Rachel's remark.  
"She sees the patterns too," Jason whispered, leaning in to speak with Percy. Percy glared at Jason.  
"No more of that talk or I'll set the Kindly Ones on you," Percy snapped, before he turned back to Rachel. "We have to send out the call."  
"That's not what I do, I'm the Oracle of Delphi," she raised her brow crossing her arms. "And I haven't prophesied anything recently."  
"It's not prophecy we're after," Percy wrapped his arm around Rachel. "We need a specialized team, filled with highly trained soldiers for the defense of hero kind."  
"And where are we supposed to get that?" Rachel smiled but managed not to laugh at Percy's ridiculousness.  
"They're in your phone," Percy stuck his hand in Rachel's pocket and pulled her phone out.  
"What? You're not going to take her battery out?" Annabeth challenged watching as Percy attempted to unlock Rachel's phone. "And who exactly is she supposed to call?"  
"Ghost Busters!" Jason shouted, taking Rachel's phone from Percy and unlocking it in a single try. "And the Heroes in Orange."  
Rachel turned, giving Annabeth a confused and questioning look. Annabeth shrugged in response, shaking her head. She had been trying to get information out of Percy and Jason all afternoon. The only thing she had learned was that both boys had gone temporarily insane.  
"And these, um, heroes are in my phone?" Rachel took her phone from Jason, who had been playing one of her games. "I didn't think Angry Birds were Greek."  
"We need backup backup," Percy took the phone from Rachel, and pulled up her contacts.  
"You said backup twice," Annabeth looked over Rachel's shoulder to see who Percy had pulled up on the contacts list.  
"Naturally, if something's worth saying, it's worth saying twice."  
"Then that's not worth saying?" Rachel gave the boy a suspicious look. She had only just been brought into the madness and could tell Percy and Jason were on a slippery slope downward.  
"He said it, didn't he?" Percy furrowed his brow at Rachel. "If it wasn't worth saying, he wouldn't have said it at all."  
"What are you two doing? Really?"  
"Really?" Percy repeated.  
"Really," Rachel nodded, her eyebrow arching.  
"The outback Olympic law enforcement agents have overrun the camp. They've been after us for most of the day," Percy whispered. "Through a stroke of sheer luck we learned about the plans early enough to escape. They captured Annabeth—we need her for the permanent record—and with the help of the marble David we freed her."  
Rachel's eyes grew wide in mock surprise, her mouth falling open slightly. "Sounds serious," she repeated her earlier comment, deciding to play along with the derangement of her friends.  
"Very," Jason spoke with an ominous tone, leaning in as if trying to exclude Annabeth from the conversation. "We fear they might have taken our backup's mind."  
"Which is why we must call in the team," Percy concluded.  
"What team?"  
"Wildcats," Jason shouted.  
"What?"  
"The team, in the phone," Percy tapped the screen of Rachel's phone.  
"I don't have anyone in my phone," Rachel shook her head, misunderstanding the ramblings of the son of Poseidon. "It's a phone, it doesn't hold people."  
"Gods!" Jason shouted. "They've gotten her too," he wheeled around to Annabeth.  
"Oh no, don't look at me, I'm still trying to figure out what's going on," she exclaimed holding her hands up between them.  
"But you're the backup! That's why we called you."  
"You never called me," Annabeth nearly shouted. "You kidnapped me while I was leaving on a quest."  
"Liberated," Percy corrected her again. "Those outback agents would have turned you sideways. You'd have been working for the wrong side, thinking it was right."  
"I'm on the wrong side right now. Now who exactly are you making Rachel call?"  
"Olympus' mightiest heroes," Jason answered as if it was repeated information, something they had told her multiple times.  
"Oh, that's good," Percy exclaimed. "Make a note of that," he turned to Annabeth.  
When she did nothing, Percy's lower lip puckered, his eyes grew large and round. She glared at him, determined not to give in to his insanity. But the longer he looked at her pleadingly the more her determination faltered. She sighed, rolling her eyes.  
"Fine, I'll make a note," she gave in, pulling her backpack off her shoulder to dig out something she could make a note on. Percy smiled happily at his girlfriend then turned back to Rachel.  
"Now, time to call them."  
"I still don't know who I'm calling."  
"Take a wild guess," Annabeth sighed writing on a small piece of paper she had pulled from her backpack. "And it will probably be right."  
Once the calls had been made, two phone calls to each listed demigod, Percy retreated to the Dare Estates pool to formulate his plans. Jason climbed a tree near the pool, so the insanity of their plans could build off the others. Rachel and Annabeth sat back in lounge chairs to wait, watching as Percy and Jason slipped into a ravishing insanity.


	5. Heroes in Orange

"You know, when they said you needed a team of highly trained soldiers, the last person I expected to respond was Valdez," Rachel commented as Leo joined Percy and Jason in a discussion about the outback Olympic law enforcement agencies. "I did expect that though," she sighed turning to Annabeth.  
"I expected him," Annabeth waved her hand at Leo. "But I don't think Frank or Hazel will come. They're all the way at Camp Jupiter."  
"Why am I here?" Annabeth and Rachel looked over at Piper, who had been drug onto the property by Leo and deposited next to them. Annabeth shrugged.  
"I guess we'll find out eventually," Annabeth propped her head up with her hands. "I've been drilling them for hours, and all I've gotten is some tale about a phone call, sending them on this dangerous mission to meet Chiron, he would have the details."  
"Why didn't he just call Blackjack or Mrs. O'Leary?"  
"It was too obvious," Rachel answered turning back. "_They_ would suspect it," she air-quoted _they_ to show how that she had no idea what Percy and Jason were rambling on about. "And I made the calls because I'm _under_ the radar," she crossed her arms leaning back in her lounge chair.  
"So what happens now?"  
"Percy," Annabeth shouted. "I think the Olympians caught Frank and Hazel in route."  
"They captured pedestrians," Jason fell out of his tree face first. "The manta-rays strike again!"  
"Holy Hephaestus," Leo leapt to his feet, "They pushed Jason off his tree!"  
Percy erupted from the pool with a large wave of water flying around him. He doused everyone and everything in the back yard, landing next to Leo who he promptly smacked in the back of the head. "Are you trying to draw their attention? They'll do more than just push you off a tree."  
"Percy," Rachel called, "What about Frank and Hazel?"  
"If Jason is right and the manta-rays have them, we'll have to act fast. Oh good," Percy turned a smile on Leo, "you're already dressed. Not all we need is a ride." Percy whistled, the whistle of a native New Yorker hailing a taxi on a busy street.  
"Remember men, once we leave here, we're no longer under protection."  
"We must go over their heads, and beneath their defenses," Percy continued folding his hands behind his back as he paced on the edge of the pool. "We are the only thing between these monsters and the mortals."  
"Sounds pretty heavy."  
"Weight has nothing to do with it," Percy and Jason turned critical stares at Leo. "Once our rides arrive, we'll have only one chance to free the rest of our elite team from the clutches of the agencies. Everything will have to go off without a hitch, and I mean everything!" Percy slapped the back of his hand looking between Leo and the girls. "Now, let's move out!"  
A pure black pegasus appeared on the horizon, on either side of him flew two more, one for each demigod. "Finally," Annabeth muttered coming to her feet. "He's done something reasonable."  
They mounted and left without saying another word to Rachel. Percy and Blackjack took point as the ascended into the clear afternoon sky. Annabeth was directly to his right and Jason directly on his left. But as they flew Annabeth knew Percy had concocted some new scheme to add to his day of misadventure. They were flying back toward the city, away from Camp.  
"Percy," she shouted to be heard over the wind whistling through her ears. "I thought we were reporting in!"  
"He'll seek us out with the details," Percy shouted back. "But first we need to get the supplies."  
"We must be armed to the teeth," Jason nodded with a serious look on his face.  
Annabeth rolled her eyes. They had been saying that for hours and so far, she had been the only supply they had gotten. Unless Piper and Leo counted as supplies and that was not entirely impossible.  
"What supplies are we getting?"  
"Shawarma," Leo answered, as if he had been part of the insanity all along. Percy and Jason tuned back to face him again. "I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it."  
"You know we've been doing smart stuff all day," Annabeth snorted. "I think it's time we did something dumb. Something that's completely irrelevant, you know what? I want some shawarma. Come on, let's go get some stupid shawarma!"  
They landed the roof of Percy's apartment building. As they started down the stairs Percy told Blackjack and his friends to return to camp, their services were no longer necessary. Once in the lobby again Percy and Jason made a bee line for the janitor's closet where they had spoken with a son of Nike when the mis-adventure had just begun. The boy was gone, which was good, the last thing they needed was a witness.  
"This is perfect," Jason nodded looking around the small room. "The blast should be easy to contain."  
"Blast?!" Piper and Annabeth shouted in unison, which resulted in their boyfriends slapping their hands over the girls' mouths. Annabeth ripped Percy's hand away, "we're in the middle of Manhattan. We can't just blow something up!"  
"Do not burn the candle at both ends, as it leads to the life of a hairdresser."  
"If only we had a sack of potatoes," Leo sighed going through the bottles of cleaning solution on the shelves.  
"Potatoes won't help us with anything," Piper shook her head.  
"Except with getting us something to eat," Annabeth grumbled waiting on Percy or Jason to determine the next move on this spiral they were riding.  
"We have to eliminate the spies in this building, shouldn't be too hard. I've only seen one of them," Percy stroked his chin in thought, assessing the possible damages. "But we'll have to blast if we have any chance of reaching camp."  
"We were at camp," Piper shouted motion between her and Leo. "We left camp to come see what you needed with us!"  
"Guys," Leo sudden shouted, holding up a bottle of bleach. "We can use this to wipe their memories."  
"We're blowing stuff up, not erasing memories with the blaaah," Jason's tongue hung out of his mouth as he stared at Leo. "Besides, we don't know which ones are the spies for the outback Olympic law enforcement agencies."  
"Blast it, that's the only answer," Percy took the bleach from Leo and set it back on the shelf.  
"We don't have to blast it," Annabeth sighed, still unable to believe that she was about to engage the insanity. Piper looked like she could not believe it either.  
"See, I told you we'd need her," Jason exclaimed clapping Annabeth on the shoulder.  
"So what do we do?" Percy and Jason leaned in toward her. Piper shook her head crossing her arms and Leo leaned over the other boys to hear her.  
"Let me salvage what's left of this plot," Annabeth opened the door of the closet, rolling her eyes and crossing the lobby to exit the building.  
"Whatever… But if it works, it was my idea," Percy smiled smugly leading the others as they followed after her.


	6. They're Always Watching

Annabeth called upon the Grey Sisters' Taxi to transport them to Half-Blood Hill. Percy and Jason objected, loudly.  
"They would be working as spies," they hissed in unison, leaning in close to Annabeth on the crowded Manhattan street.  
"They're monsters," Annabeth retorted, her eyes narrowing at them. "Why would monsters work for the Olympians as outback law enforcement agents?"  
The boys opened their mouths to respond. The comments died in their mouths, unable to get past Annabeth's point. Percy snapped his mouth shut looking smartly at his girlfriend, and then gave a small smirk. Jason nodded.  
"Gods, she's right," Jason turned to Leo and Piper. "This is a woman with a plan."  
"If you asked me, I would have given you a plan," Piper grumbled as they piled in the back of the Grey Sisters' Taxi. "We were in camp, and no one said anything about this mission you two are talking about."  
"Because it's secret," Leo leaned over Jason to talk to Piper. "If everyone knew, there would be even more danger." His eyes were wide and wild, laced with the adrenaline that was fueling Percy and Jason's adventure. He was too easily influenced by the madness.  
And the madness was everywhere. It surrounded the demigod team as they made their way around New York. The boys were filled with a sense of purpose, a collaborative feeling that whatever they were doing was right; a unanimous sense that they were winning.  
Piper and Annabeth were riding the wave, being battered against the stones of sanity in a way that was resulting in their demise. Riding the wave was not the answer. That much Annabeth seemed to have grasped since the short stop at Dare Estates. But it was a part of the answer. Ride the wave, control the wave; get them to Chiron so the insanity could end.  
That was her plan. Once they reached camp, once they saw Chiron the insanity could end. She could go on her quest, they boys could go back to Percy's, Leo could return to his workshop and his metal dragon and Piper could go back to her camp activities; it would all work out in the end. Once she got them to camp, it would all be over.  
"Exactly, our impish friend is correct in that sense," Percy commented from the other side of the taxi. "The less people involved, the better off we are."  
"Then why did you call me?" Piper shouted waving her arms around.  
Jason snatched her arms form the air, pinning them to her sides. "Hush, you'll attract their attention," he whispered his eyes darting between the Grey Sisters and Piper.  
"We already know!"  
"They're conspiring against us!"  
"Accelerating!" The Grey Sisters shrieked, the car lurched forward, throwing the passengers back in their seats.  
"Gods, this place is starting to get to me," Percy moaned, his head pressed back in the ancient leather of the Grey Sisters' Taxi's bench seat. "I think I'm getting the fear."  
"Accelerating," the sisters cried again.  
"I think I already have it," Leo, who was in the middle, was leaning heavily on Annabeth as the taxi accelerated through a curve and hit the dirt road leading out to Half-Blood Hill. "I think I've had it all along."  
"Half-Blood Hill," the taxi skidded to a halt, dust billowing around the car and rocks flying outward.  
They piled out and stumbled up the hill to the pine tree holding the Golden Fleece. Looking down over the hill they could see the year-round campers in the middle of their evening activities. It was almost dark, soon the call to dinner would be sounding. Annabeth sighed, they had made it to camp; it was almost over.  
"Percy, Jason," Chiron was on the porch of the Big House. It was like they had said; the trainer had sought them out. But that was all that would match up with their ramblings; Annabeth knew Chiron had no mission for them. "We weren't expecting either of you for another two weeks."  
"Can we trust him," Jason leaned in to Percy.  
Percy shook his head, "nope."  
Jason and Leo turned wide, shocked eyes on Percy.  
"He's one of them," Percy shouted, charging across the porch toward Chiron. Or rather past Chiron, and over the railing, "You'll never take us alive!"  
Percy's charge was stopped short as Chiron caught him, mid-leap from the porch. "What in Zeus' name are you talking about?"  
"Please tell him there's no secret mission," Piper pleaded.  
"Or outback Olympic law enforcement agencies trying to get them," Annabeth added.  
Chiron's brow furrowed looking between the girls and Percy, who was weakly attempting to escape the loose grip Chiron had on his shirt collar.  
Annabeth quickly explained the madness that had happened that day. The circling they had performed around Manhattan on their way to reach Camp Half-Blood after a mysterious phone call Percy and Jason received. Chiron's brow furrowed further listening to her story, his head shaking occasionally. Once she finished, he looked down at Percy and sighed.  
"It seems an old adversary has claimed another victim."  
Annabeth felt her jaw drop. He was going along with the madness, her plan had failed her. Her plans never fail, who could she have failed with something so stupid? She snapped her mouth shut, her eyes narrowing as she watched Percy who was attempting to cut his shirt with Riptide still in pen form.  
"Enough," she snapped, storming up to Percy. "You caught them, she's right there." Annabeth pointed at random across the grounds. As it happened, she pointed right at Clarisse La Rue over at the dining pavilion. "You scared them all, they've gone underground."  
"Underground Olympic law enforcement," Jason started, but Piper clapped her hand over his mouth, and Leo's just to be safe.  
"Then our work is done," Percy stood, easily pulling away from Chiron and whistling for Blackjack. The pegasus came with Jason's storm spirit. Together they mounted looking down at their team.  
What was he doing there? What was the meaning of this trip? Where they just roaming around in a boredom-induced frenzy? Had he really come to camp to accept a quest? Or had this all been a vibrant hallucination shared between him and his Roman companion?  
"Don't take anything gruff from these people," he heard himself say as he and Jason turned their respective mounts from Chiron, Annabeth, Piper, and Leo. "If you have any trouble, remember, you can always send out a call. We'll come," he clapped Jason on the shoulder before their mounts moved too far apart.  
"Explaining out position?" Annabeth's brow arched, a thin smile pulling at her lips.  
"They're watching," Jason added. "They're always watching."  
The pegasus and the Ventus charged across the yard and ascended over the cabins, vanishing into the horizon heading toward the city. Lost in the obscurity of the area, safely hidden from the watching eyes; a pair of freaks, in the freak kingdom.

**A/N This is what I'm calling a failed attempt at humor. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Is there a point? Not so much. As stated in the summary, this story has reference to many other works including(but not limited to): _Sherlock_ (BBC); _Dr. Who_ (BBC); _Men in Black_ (Warner Bros. Entertainment); _Back to the Future_ (Universal Pictures); _The Avengers_ (Marvel, Stan Lee); and _Ed, Edd n Eddy_ (Cartoon Network, a.k.a. Cartoon). Most heavily referenced in this story is _Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas_, a book written by Hunter S. Thompson (I suggest you all go read this fantastic story) and the movie adaption by Universal Pictures.  
If you've enjoyed this half-baked, nearly plot-less story, I'm glad. If not, well thanks for sticking around for the end. Review the story if you can, let me know how it was lacking, or why it was humorous to you. I take criticism well, and would enjoy the feedback.  
And remember, "They're always watching."**


End file.
